Polymerase chain reaction for detection of cytokine gene expression.

A powerful method to amplify reverse-transcribed RNA, the polymerase chain reaction can be used to measure cytokine gene transcription in a small number of cells, or in cases where there is low mRNA copy number. This technique may be used to obtain qualitative or quantitative determinations of cytokine gene expression. In this review we discuss the various strategies recently described for the evaluation of cytokine expression using the polymerase chain reaction.